The Defense of Earth 2552
by ARC-7567
Summary: A group of ODSTs led by a Spartan stumble upon a very interesting discovery that could help to save the human race from the alien alliance known as the covenant. Romance Maria Hill/OC NO LEMONS DONT ASK
1. A routine mission

_**I do not own Halo or Marvel and this story is just for readers to enjoy**_

 _ **3**_ _ **rd**_ _ **person pov**_

Septemer 18th 2552 Earth near the ruins of New York City

A flight of two pelicans is flying into an area recently attacked by a Covenant special ops team. The troopers of the 82nd ODST are preparing to search for survivors in the city. To many in the group of 15 specifically chosen troopers this city is a legendary place known for the historical battle of New York over 500 years ago. That was the first time humanity fought against an alien force like they are now again. The leader of 82nd ODST is Lieutenant Cory Andrews who was just promoted after the last commander of the platoon was killed in combat on the planet of Reach. Despite this he is not the person in charge of this mission that would be Spartan A266, Jun, the only survivor of Noble Team which was heavily involved in the defense of Reach. As they reach the drop zone the lead pilot's voice is heard over the intercom of the dropships: "Looks like there aren't any covvies left probably pulled back". "I wouldn't be too sure" Jun replies "Andrews I need you to scan for life signatures". "Right away, Sir" Andrews says as he starts the scan "Looks like we might have survivors but it seems they're in cyrofreeze". Jun says a little bit startled "Cryofreeze? There aren't any UNSC bases out here". "Looks like it's under the surface though." Jun then orders the rest of the team "Alright get your weapons and ammo ready we are going to see if there are really survivors down there." The troops then land and find an old 21st century secret underground structure one of the ODSTs a young lance corporal breaches the door with his shotgun Lt. Andrews follows suppressed SMG at the ready. The team reaches the spot where the life sign were read and can't believe their eyes. Right in front of their faces are 7 cryo tubes with people they knew from their history books, people from the Avengers.


	2. The mission's changed

Hey guys here's part two

July 9th 2020

Inside a secret underground shield base 7 super powered heroes and shield agents are preparing to be frozen into cryogenic sleep. These people are Steve Rogers aka Captain America, James "Bucky" Barnes aka The Winter Soldier, Natasha Romanov aka The Black Widow, Sharon Carter aka Shield Special Service Agent 13, Sam Wilson aka Falcon, Bobbi Morse aka Mockingbird and deputy shield director Maria Hill. They are being frozen to be protected as the rest of the world believes they are dead. "Sir I do not believe this is a good idea without them the world is in extreme danger." Hill says trying to argue with director Fury "I've already decided on this Hill and you're going with them." Fury says "Sir?" Hill questions confused. "If I am killed before you all get out of cryo freeze they'll need a good leader and you are the best choice." "Yes sir I will get prepped immediately." A few hours later "Preparing to start cryofreeze procedure" over the intercom "Starting in 3..2..1..". "Good Luck to you all" Fury states.

September 18th 2552

"Preparing to open cryo bays sir" the young ODST breacher yells "Good, the medical team is on its way and will be here shortly" Lt. Andrew replies "Jun how's it going up there." "We haven't found any other survivors but no covenant either. When will you two be back up here?" "We will be there once the medical team is here and no longer need help, Sir." "Good report back when you are finished." "Yes Sir." Lt. Andrews then walks over to the cryo release button "Opening in 3…2…1…" He then pushes the button and the cryo tubes start to open. "Cryo tubes open life signs steady, Sir." The 7 Heroes and agents step out of the tubes and immediately see the two armored troopers and are almost ready for a fight. "Who are you?" Captain America asks "Captain, I am Lieutenant Cory Andrews of the 82nd ODST we mean you no harm but we need to talk to all of you." "About what?' Rogers questions "There's no easy way to say this but you have been in Cryo freeze for over 500 years." "Nice try but there is no way that is possible. Fury would have gotten us out before then." "Fury, as in shield director Nicholas Fury who was killed by the assassin Crossbones in 2023 after the battle of Wakanda." "What are you trying to say?" "We all learned about the avengers and shield in school you are some of history's greatest heroes but you have been thought long dead." Rogers starts to walk away stunned "This happened again and worse this time around." Agent Carter immediately runs to his side. Lt. Andrews then says "We need your help more than ever now Humanity has been under attack from an alien force known as the Covenant and we are now in a stalemate and they found earth." "What are they after?" Hill questions the lieutenant "They believe we are a desecration and must be completely annihilated. They want to destroy us all." "That is a lot worse than we thought it would be..." Hill says "…but we are ready to help save humanity."


	3. Explanations cut short

Well here's chapter 3 I haven't started school yet but when I do the publishing will be delayed

September 19th 2552

"So you're telling us that we have been frozen for 500 years and now humanity is at war with alien alliance called the covenant?" Asks the Black Widow. "Yes, we only found you because the city was attacked by covenant forces and we were scanning for survivors." Lt. Andrews replies. "Do you expect us to believe that?" Falcon questions. "Not without proof but we have some on the way." Just as Andrews finishes speaking Jun walks in fully armored but helmet off. "Hi, I am Spartan A266 but I am known as Jun. I am a Spartan-III or a super soldier like Captain Rogers just with some newer gear." Cap shifts his footing "How many of you are there?" "We at one point had over 700 Spartans but now I don't know how many are left now." Cap replies with a simple "Oh" Jun then tells him "Well, I am not convinced we can match up to the originals" as he motions toward Cap and Bucky. Bucky starts to move intimidatingly until Rogers sticks his arm out "He was complementing us Bucky." Bucky then backs down. Hill then asks "What is this Covenant Like?" Andrews responds "There are multiple species from Grunts to Hunters they are all deadly." "What about numbers?" Jun replies "They destroyed one of our most fortified planets a month ago killing millions, so a whole hell of a lot." Andrews then pulls up his data pad "Here are the covenant forces Grunts, Jackals, Skirmishers, Drones, Brutes, Hunters and Prophets. The elites have joined us in fighting their old allies." Hill raises an Eyebrow and asks "Really? I would have thought they would have stayed in their armies." Andrews looks at her and responds "So did we but their leader, The Arbiter, found out the prophets were lying to them and convinced his people to join us." A marine then radios in "Covenant forces inbound prepare for combat." Andrews starts getting his troopers into position. Jun runs and preps his sniper rifle. Andrews then runs over to Hill "How many of you need weapons" Hill responds "5 of us do." "Alright I found some UNSC weapons here you go." Andrews responds handing them 2 Assault Rifles a DMR, a Battle Rifle and a shotgun. "We need to get out of here or the Brutes will corner us." Everyone starts to move out.


	4. Combat and Extract

September 19th 2552

Extraction point

"INCOMING!" screams one of the ODSTs just as the plasma blast from a wraith hits the side of the bunker blowing a hole in the wall injuring a marksman. "Watch the right flank" Andrews orders some of his men but behind him a brute chieftan prepares to bring down his gravity hammer on the Lieutenant but as he does Captain America's shield come flying in knocking the hammer out of the chieftan's hands. Andrews is then able to turn around and fire a burst from his SMG killing the chieftan. "Thanks for the save Captain." "No problem Andrews" Rogers responds "Rogers, come in Rogers." Hill yells over the radio "What's going on,Hill?" Rogers responds "We are surrounded and cut off, only a few of us lef….." "Hill respond are you there?" Rogers yells concerned "Jun do you have a visual one Hill's unit?" Andrews asks "Negative I see the covenant attacking their position, it looks bad down there." "Alright, copy that. Barnes what about you?" "Same thing here." Andrews turns to Rogers grabs a battle rifle and his SMG "Let's get them out of there. You going with me Captain?" "Of course." Andrews nods and they move away from the rest of the group "82nd hold this position we need some where to get the survivors to." "Copy that sir."

15 minutes later

They start to move up on where Hill's team was holding out Andrews pulls out a set of binoculars a sees most of the team is dead about 6 of the 8 man team are on the ground with brutes standing guard all around. He spots Hill and she is wounded and being held prisoner by the brutes and then he sees two hunters standing nearby. "Ok, I have a visual on Hill she's wounded but still alive." "That's a relief." Rogers responds "I didn't finish the two survivors are guarded by about 6 brutes and a chieftan plus two hunters. We will need a distraction to draw them away just to get close." Rogers grabs his radio "Sam, I need you to fly over and draw these guys away from Hill's position, copy" "Loud and clear Cap, on my way." The two watch and wait for about five minutes and see falcon flying overhead the brutes take the bait but the Hunters don't as much. "Alright this out best chance on 3 1…2…3…GO." The two jump up and sprint to Hill and the other survivor and prepare to move "I can't walk…the blast injured my leg." Hill winces just saying these words. Andrews motions for Cap to come over "Look in my pack there is a canister labeled biofoam hand that to me." Rogers moves over and finds the canister "Here you go Andrews." Andrews the looks to Hill "This may hurt a bit but it will keep your leg stable, OK?" Hill just nods so Andrews applies the biofoam Hill again winces but calms down after it sets. "Ok we have to move Hill will need some assistance back to the extraction point so I'll help her get back." Andrews says he hands the battle rifle to the surviving trooper "You cover us and watch for enemy snipers." "Yes sir." The trooper responds. Andrews grabs his SMG with one hand and helps Hill onto his shoulder "Cap can you give us some cover with that shield?" Cap looks back "Of course, you ready to move?" Andrews nods along with the ODST trooper "Let's get going then." And with that the team moves toward the extraction point.

10 minutes later

Extraction point

Bucky looks up to see a banshee flying in he grabs a Spartan laser dropped by one of the ODST who was wounded and fires at it "Bucky, can you read me?" Cap yells over the radio "I read you Steve, what's going on?" "We are almost to the extraction point but we have a wraith between us and the road to the extraction point." Bucky looks over and sees the wraith concentrating on the team "I'm on it. Natasha, Wilson did you get that?" "Yes." the two respond in unison "Well I need some help to take that thing out Natasha I need you to sneak up and hit it with the Spartan Laser, Sam hit the turret gunner and I'll finish him off." "Copy that" they both respond but then a grenade goes off near Widow knocking into a wall and unconscious "Widow is down she's alive but down for the count" Sam yells to Bucky "Go through with the plan." "On it" Wilson responds as he dives for the wraith he then draws out a couple SMGs and fires on the turret gunner killing it. Bucky jumps on the back of the wraith and plants a grenade in the back a jumps off just in time for the wraith to explode. "Steve, wraith's down move to extraction point." "Thanks Bucky." The rescue team get to the extraction point just as the pelicans return to pick them up. "EVERYBODY ONBOARD NOW!" the pilot yells and everyone is onboard the pelicans and on their way out of the situation in 30 seconds.


	5. Crow's nest and back to Combat

Here's chapter 5 enjoy

September 20th 2552 Crow's nest base

"Get Romanoff and Morse into medical bay, now!" Andrews yells to one the ODSTs under his command "Sir, yes sir." The ODST responds. The PA system in the base is heard "Sierra-A266 and Lieutenant Andrews to the command center immediately." "Alright, let's go." Jun says to Andrews "Wait, sir shouldn't we take the Avengers leaders with us." Andrews then replies. "Alright you find out who they are and bring them with you to the command center." "Yes, sir" Andrews then walks over to the Avengers who are standing waiting to hear about their teammates conditions. Steve sees Andrews walking over "How are they?" "They're stable and should make full recoveries." "That's good to hear." Andrews motions to the Avengers to gather closer "I need two of you to come talk to Commander Keyes preferably the ones in charge." "That would be Hill and I" Rogers responds. "Alright we need to get up there. I'll see the rest of you later." Andrews, Hill and Rogers then walk towards the command center. When they enter they notice a young brunette woman in a grey UNSC uniform standing in center of the room talking to Jun. "You found who?" The woman asks the fully armored Spartan. "7 of the Avengers ma'am." Jun responds. He motions to Andrews, Hill and Rogers "There's two of them walking with Andrews." The woman looks and starts walking towards them she comes up to Cap and shakes his hand "Good to have more people on board…" she starts shaking Hill's hand "…I am Commander Miranda Keyes I am leading the UNSC's ground forces on earth." As she finishes a large creature with 4 mandibles and dog looking legs walks in Hill immediately reaches for her weapon and so does Cap. "Hold your fire!" Andrews yells getting Hill and Rogers' attention "That's the Arbiter he has brought his people to help us." "Good more troops." the Arbiter says "I do not believe we have met." "These are two of the Avengers, Maria Hill and Steve Rogers. They are legendary heroes of long ago." "How are they alive then?" The Arbiter questions "They were in cryofreeze when we found them so that kept them alive for over 500 years." "It is good to have more warriors among us. Keyes any word on the Master Chief?" "We just found his crash site go with Johnson and his men to get him out." The Arbiter nods and leaves the command center. "The Master Chief?" Hill asks "He is a Spartan like Jun just more amped up." "Why would that be?" Rogers questions. "Jun was part of the Spartan-III program while The Chief was part of the Spartan-II program which was more heavily augmented." "Augmented?" Hill questions. "The process of becoming super soldiers was more severe for the Spartan-IIs than the Spartan-IIIs. Let's get some rest it's going to be a long day tomorrow." "What do you mean?" Cap and Hill ask "We have to help with the attack on the Covenant forces in New Mombasa I was hoping you would be able to help." "We will Lieutenant." Hill responds and starts to walk away "Hey, you guys just call me Cory." "Copy that, Cory."

Onboard a pelican dropship en-route to New Mombasa

Cory stands at the back of the dropship just looking out at the destroyed landscape he wonders if the war will ever end. Even though the landscape is destroyed he knows there is hope with the Avengers now helping out. "Coming up on the LZ troopers!" The pilot yells over the intercom "Everybody ready up!" Andrews then orders his troopers hoping they will all come back from this mission however unlikely it is. "Cory, I need some help over here." Hill says "What's going on?" Hill looks at him "I can't figure this armor out." Andrews takes a knee in front of her and goes over what is needed "Ok, just remember the cross hairs show where the rounds will go and red dots on the radar are enemy, yellow are friendly and your radio can be accessed from either side of the helmet. That's all you need for now." With that he taps her lightly on the shoulder and stands up to get the rest of the troopers ready.


	6. Stealth to Rescue mission

September 21st 2552 outskirts of New Mombasa

Andrews checks his SMG and grabs a shotgun as well knowing how close quarters this battle will probably get. "Cory, how many survivors do you think are down there?" Hill asks "I don't know. The covenant don't spare anyone they find." He looks over at Hill and even with her armor on he can see she is uneasy. "Hey, you've led troops in the field before you'll do fine." Andrews says as he puts his hand on her shoulder. "Thank you." She responds. "Prepare for insertion troopers" The pilot yells over the intercom. Andrews jumps out with his team "Hey we will be at your position after we check this area alright Hill." "Hill nods and says to him over the radio "You can call me Maria." "Copy, good luck out there Maria."

1 hour later downtown

Andrews' team moves towards Hill's teams last known position. He moves up and over a small pile of rubble and sees the bodies of most of Hill's team and brute tracks leading toward the Covenant's overhead cruiser. "Oh no." Andrews then motions for his men to move out towards the cruiser.

30 minutes earlier at the same location

Hill's team is moving through the rubble looking for survivors when suddenly an explosion throws many of them to the ground of the 5 man team 2 are killed in the blast with just three troopers left Hill orders them to fall back but the rear trooper is ambushed by a group of grunts and a Brute. He tries to move back but a jackal sniper picks him off before he can even take a step. The other trooper looks at Hill and gets ready to move but a brute chieftan runs up and smashes him into the ground with a gravity hammer killing him Hill is alone and fires at the group of grunts but her magnum jams and she can't reach the other troopers weapons. She grabs her knife and prepare to take one with her but then she sees the chieftan put an arm up "The prophet of truth wants this one taken alive." Hill tries to run but she is not faster than the brute chieftan who grabs her by the back of the neck and drags her off with his troops in tow.

Back to present

Andrews looks out to see a group of brutes and grunts guarding a phantom dropship. He then sees a brute chieftan with one of the ODSTs in his grasp. "Sniper rifle now he whispers to one his ODSTs. The trooper silently hands him the rifle Andrews zooms in and sees Hill's emblem on the armor. "Alright, we are going in to rescue Hill I need two snipers." One of the ODSTS raises his hand and then he sees a familiar green armor "I'll be watching over you as well." Jun says to Andrews "Alright so that means 4 of us to actually go in to the covenant camp, I will be on point the rest of you cover me and watch your fire. Let's get moving."

Inside phantom dropship

Hill sat leaned against a wall in shackles she could barely move since her leg had been reinjured and some of her ribs broken by the chieftan when she ran. Laying there knowing she couldn't escape she remembered her squad who had been killed in front of her less than an hour ago. All of them had fought well but she failed them she st there waiting for the brutes to kill her. Then she heard gun fire and explosions outside the phantom. "Maria, sound off!" Cory yells as he breaches the phantom "Over…here…Cory" She yells grunting from the pain in her side. Andrews runs up to her and sees the wounds in her side and leg. He radios Jun "I need help down here she's in bad shape." "On my way." Jun replies within a few minutes Jun is there and helping to treat Hill's wounds "We have to move Covenant reinforcements on the way" an ODST yells over the radio. "Jun, can you fly this thing?" Andrews asks "Of course." With that Jun heads up to the cockpit "Everybody onboard now." "Yes sir" The four ODSTs respond in unison within a minute everyone is onboard and they are taking off. "They're gone all of them." Hill mumbles but Andrews hears it "It wasn't your fault it happens to the best of us." "They killed them in front of me." Hill says about to cry "Hey, the same thing happened on Reach to me except it was most of my team and my commanders." Hill looks up at him "I'm only in charge now because they were all killed during the defense of Reach my squad and all the troopers who outranked me they were all killed except for some of the troopers from another platoon and I were able to escape Reach before the Covenant burned the surface to glass." She looks at him with his helmet now off with a scar over his right eye looking into her eyes "We have all lost a lot through this war my cousin was still on reach when it was glassed. Maria you are going to be fine you have fought through worse than this and you can't quit now." Hill looks up at him with tears in her eyes as he hugs her and says "Until the end I am here for you." They then just sit and wait for the rest of the flight back to Crow's Nest.


	7. Memories

Halo 3 dates from now on

Onboard the stolen phantom dropship our heroes are resting when Jun yells back "Andrews I need you up here now!" "On my way." Andrews starts to get up but Hill wakes up and looks around "Where am I?" she says startled and in fear "Hey I'm right here. I have to go up to the cockpit and I'll be right back." Hill nods and leans back against the wall. Andrews enters the cockpit "Sooo…how's it going back there?" Jun mockingly asks "Great. What do you need me for?" Andrews responds a little irritated. "Crow's nest is down Covenant forces attacked and everyone had to evacuate." "Where are we going then?" We are heading to an outpost south of Tsavo highway where we will meet up with the rest of the Avengers and regroup." "I'll tell the men." Andrews starts to leave the cockpit. "You're a lot alike you know." Jun says to Andrews. "Yeah, I know." He responds and then leaves. Hill looks up "Hey what's going on?" She questions "We aren't going to be able to return to Crow's nest" Andrews responds somberly. "Why not?" She asks "It was attacked by the Covenant and everyone evacuated." Hill looks down stunned. Andrews kneels next to her and says "I have to go tell the rest of the team, I'll be right back." After about 5 minutes Cory comes back and sits next Maria once he's settled in he pulls a picture out of his armor "What's that?" Hill asks curious "It's me, my little brother, and our cousin." He responds looking down "This is the last picture of us all together it was just before my cousin and I shipped out for our first deployment with the ODSTs it was taken in New Indianapolis where I was born. My brother was still in training at the time." Hill looks at him "Where was your first deployment." "It was on a colony called Harvest we went there to find a covenant leader we were there about two months until we were called back." "Where were you called back to?" Hill asks Cory looks at the ground "Reach…we were deployed to evacuate civilians from refuge at a small town near Castle base. We were ordered to retreat but we stayed to help get out one last group of civilians, he was almost to the Pelican to evac…" Cory then looks up towards the ceiling. "…when he was hit in the leg by an Elite with a plasma rifle he fell and fired killing the elite but as he stood up a sniper fired hitting him in the head killing him instantly. I was about to jump out but our commander grabbed me and threw me in my seat. My commander was then killed by an elite general with an energy sword when the pelican went down just before we got to castle base. That's why I am in command now. I still see those two events in my nightmares today." Cory then drops his head and Maria looks at him "What was your cousin's name?" She asks sympathetic to him "Fred he was a good man helped me and my brother out a lot. My brother is still in the US where he's part of an ODST detachment I haven't talked to him since our cousin was killed." "What is your brother's name?" Maria asks "Eric, he still doesn't know what happened to our cousin." Maria looks at the young man realizing that this war has taken a lot from everyone. "When are you going to tell him?" Cory looks at her "I don't know how to tell him." He looks back down and Maria she tells him "After we meet up with the rest of the Avengers and your company you should go see him." "I don't know if I can." He responds "We will go with you the Avengers and myself…" She looks at him "…don't miss this chance, Cory." He then looks at her "I won't miss it, but Jun is probably going to." "Why?" "He was there when my cousin was killed and he saved my life when the pelican went down. That's why he is always on missions with me we have been good friends since Reach. He hasn't really had friends in his life growing up as a Spartan is tough his friends were all in the program and most of Alpha company if not all of it is dead." "Wow" Maria responds "He was detached from the world after Reach and so was I so we started talking to each other and just became friends after escaping Reach." Maria then looks up at Cory "He sounds like a good man even though he has seen a lot of stuff." Cory looks at her "Most of us are like that now we have all seen what men should never have seen but we keep going so Humanity itself is still here at the end of this." She looks up and kisses him on the cheek "We will see your brother soon and you can introduce me too the rest of your family." He looks down at her "Get some rest we will all need when we get back to the rest of the team" He then sits there as she falls asleep on his shoulder _We are going to need all the rest we can get to even survive_. He says to himself and he starts to drift off and into sleep.


	8. Family

A couple hours after the rescue

Cory wakes up in the Phantom and notices there is something leaning on his left shoulder, he looks down to see Maria still asleep resting on his shoulder. He then sees Jun walking up "We landed about 5 minutes ago everyone else is inside waiting for us." Cory looks at Jun "How are we going to get her up without scaring her to death after what happened." Jun looks down and nudges her shoulder a couple times and she starts to stir. "She may still be scared so make sure she knows you are there." Jun tells Cory. Cory nods Maria opens her eyes and sees the purple lighting of the ship and starts to try and run "Maria it's me, I'm here, it's Cory." She looks up to see him smiling at her. "We need to go into the base. They're waiting for us." He says "Alright let's go" She responds. As they walk down the ramp of the phantom they see the Avengers and some of the ODSTs waiting "Good to see you guys are all right." Cap says the rest of the Avengers make a half circle with him "We are glad you made it out." Bucky exclaims. Sharon Carter walks up and says "We all feel the same but we'll let these two do the talking for now." They all start talking after about an hour Cory motions for Maria and Jun to come and talk "What's up?" Jun asks "We need to contact Lord Hood for permission to visit my brother." Cory responds .Jun then looks at him and says "Let's go then." They walks away from their friends and to the radio transmitter "Lord Hood this is Spartan A-266 we need to speak to you." Jun radios in "Yes, Sierra 266, what do you need?" Hood replies "Two others and I would like to check on the New Indianapolis outpost." "What two others?" "Lt. Cory Andrews and Maria Hill" Jun replies "Ok, you have the green light but we may need you again soon." "Copy that, Sir." "You will be drooped of by a pelican and then will have to drive the rest of the way." "Thank you, Sir" Jun responds and the three walk to the pelican.

A couple days later.

Cory looks out at his old hometown from the ridge they rested on the night before. He is still wearing his armor as Earth has been under attack. "You ready?" Maria asks as she and Jun walk up "As I am ever going to be." Cory responds. The three then get in the warthog and drive towards New Indianapolis. Upon arriving at the UNSC outpost there. Cory asks one of the marines where the 101st ODST barracks are the Marine then responds "Barracks numbers 302 through 308. Do you mind if I ask why sir?" Cory looks at the Marine "My brother is in that unit Cpl. Eric Andrews, I came to talk to him." The marine looks at him "I thought I recognized your name Cpl. Andrews is the best sniper on base." Cory smiles under his helmet "That does sound like him. We spent a lot of time at the range as kids and teens." Cory, Maria and Jun start walking toward the barracks. "Good luck sir." The marine says as he waves goodbye. "Thank you." They all respond. He walks through to the door that says Cpl. Andrews and Lcpl. Heingartener he knocks and hears a female voice yell "Who the hell is it?" Cory responds "Lieutenant Cory Andrews I'm here to see Eric." The door opens with a young woman, barely 19, opening the door still in most of her ODST armor "What's an officer like you doing here in the enlisted barracks?" she asks "I'm here to see my brother, Eric. Where is he?" The woman looks at him. "He's meeting with the commanders of the base about reinforcing New Mombasa." Cory who now has his helmet off looks at Hill and Jun with a questioning look on his face "We just come from there, we found some reinforcements." The woman looks at the lieutenant "How?" Cory then explains the events which led to the finding of the avengers. "Wow, that's a little weird. Where are they now?" "Most of them are in the New Mombasa area but one is right there." He points at Maria who takes off her helmet "Nice to meet you, we didn't get your name." The woman looks at her "Felicity my name is Felicity." 'Nice to meet you, Felicity." They all say separately. "Could we wait for Eric here?" Cory asks "Sure, he will be very happy to see you. He talks about you a lot, he misses his older brother." Cory then smiles "I miss him too. It's just been hard to talk to him after Reach." The woman looks at him "What happened on Reach?" "Our cousin was killed in action. I haven't talked my brother since." "Wow, that's a lot to deal with." Cory gestures toward the Spartan "Jun here saved my life that day when our CO was also killed." Jun looks over to him "I did what was needed but I gained a great friend out of it." The three talk for a few minutes and the door open and Eric walks in. Cory stands up "Hey little bro how's it been?" Eric looks at him, runs and hugs him. "I missed you so much Cory. Where's Fred?" Cory looks down at the floor "That's what I came to talk about. He didn't make it off Reach." Eric looks at his brother "It's alright there was nothing you could do. We'll remember him later." Cory looks up at his brother's forgiveness "Well, these are my closest friends, Maria Hill and Jun Spartan A266. They're good people." The five then sit down and talk about their time without the war.


	9. Remeber

A few hours later

Cory and Maria walk out of the barracks "How do you feel?" Maria asks, Cory looks at her "Better the weight of it has been lifted off my shoulders. We are probably being transferred here though so are the Avengers and the rest of our team" Hill looks at him "When did this happen?" Cory looks at the sky "After our first mission Keyes decided to send us away from that combat zone." "Ok, so we came to check out the area ahead of time." Maria responds "Yeah…" Cory looks down at the ground "…we have to hold here because they want Jun away from New Mombasa so the last few Spartans are not all in one area." He looks up at Maria "The only reason we are away from the fighting is he wanted us to go and wouldn't leave without us." Jun walks out and looks between Cory and Maria "I suppose you told her then." Cory looks at his friend "Yeah she was wondering when the Avengers would be here." Jun looks to Maria "Tomorrow. Get some rest you two we have to do recon in the morning." "We will in a few minutes, Jun." Cory says "Alright, I'm going to check the perimeter." With that Jun walks off. "Maria…" she looks at Cory "I want you to stay here during recon tomorrow." "What, why shouldn't I go?" "I don't want you to get hurt even Spartans aren't invincible. Did Jun ever tell you about Noble?" Maria looks at him "No…why?" "I never met them but they were Spartans, super soldiers he's the only one who left Reach." Maria looks at Cory "There were six of them Jorge sacrificed himself destroying a Covenant super carrier, Kat was killed by a sniper in New Alexandria, Carter, Emile and Spartan B312 were killed while delivering a fragment of the AI Cortana to the Pillar of Autumn so the UNSC could get her off the planet. The Spartans only had each other and so when his team was gone he felt alone. That's whe we met and he saved my life." Maria looks at the young man and says "I understand what you mean but I don't want to lose you either so I am going with you." Cory looks at her and smiles "The Avengers will be here in a few hours we should rest." They get up and walk back to the barracks.


	10. Things just got worse

A couple weeks after end of last chapter

"Lieutenant Andrews to the Command center, now!" A trooper yells over the PA. "What now?" Cory mumbles as he starts running to the command center irritated since he's been dealing with new recruits getting into trouble all day. As he enters the command center he sees that Cap, Bucky and Eric are waiting. "What's going on?" Cap looks up and moves towards his friend "Hill is MIA with the rest of her team KIA she was with 30 troopers there is no sign of her, I'm sorry." Cory felt exactly what he had felt after losing his cousin on Reach but worse now. Cory starts to stumble back but Cap grabs his arm and tells him to sit down "What's the plan?" Cap looks at his friend "We don't have one yet. It was a Covenant Elite team that did this The Arbiter will join up in a few days." Cory looks around and sees why they are all here this is very bad specifically for him. He looks around the room and then gets up and walks away. "Where are you going?" Cap asks "I'm going to figure out a strategy and we are going to find her." He then walks out.

2 hours later Cory's barracks room

Cory lays on his bed and hasn't even taken his armor off. He lays there just staring at the ceiling. Someone knocks on the door and Cory doesn't even answer but his door unlocks from outside revealing a large green figure. "Cory, I just got back from a recon mission and heard what happened. What's the plan?" Jun says worry strong in his voice, Cory sits up on his bed "As far as I know there isn't one." Jun looks at his friend and sees the pain in his eyes. "I have one but we need a few hours to get the rest of what we need." Cory looks at the Spartan who turns to leave and tells him "Are you sure we can find her?" Jun looks back "I am 100% positive." "Thank you Jun." Jun nods and leaves to collect what they need for the mission.

4 hours later middle of vehicle depot

Two Spartans are preparing their weapons for a rescue they were asked by another Spartan to help with this mission and Spartans are tight knit group of soldiers. They see the Spartan who called them walking up with an ODST and three other soldiers but they do not recognize the class. "Thank you for coming to help us Blue Team. We don't have a lot of troops but this mission is high priority. The person captured is Maria Hill she is now assigned to the 82nd ODST's intelligence company. She is very important trooper for many reasons because of this we will be accompanied by Captain America, The Winter Soldier and The Falcon. The trooper in command of the 82nd ODST, Lieutenant Cory Andrews, will be in command." Jun says as Fred-104 and Kelly-087 look at the team going in. "We are ready and waiting for departure, Jun." Fred responds to the briefing. "I will be running recon when we get in range." Kelly confirms her role in the op. "Sounds good, let's get moving." Cory says to the team. With that the troops board the Pelican and head towards the last known location of elites still loyal to the Covenant.


	11. Do or die

2 hours after end of the last chapter

In a secret covenant base some elites still loyal to the covenant are standing guarding a room holding a valuable prisoner. "Why are we holding this human? We'd be better off killing it." A spec ops elite says to one of the other elites in his group. "We can't kill it because the prophets want to interrogate it personally. They here a door open and a zealot walks in "What are our orders?" A major in the hangar asks the zealot "We are to interrogate the human female and get information out of her." In a darkened cell Maria starts to wake up after being stunned by an elite that was thought to be on their side she then remembers seeing her team killed. She looks at the ground and hears something moving outside the cell. The door opens and she sees an Elite zealot walk in. "The Arbiter will kill you when he hears about this." Maria yells at the elite in front of her. "Will he? He is with your troops on the Ark right now he will never know who it was who captured you." Hill looks him defiantly in the eye. "There are others who will come and you will be brought to justice." The elite laughs and looks at her "No they may come but they will not make it past the hangar." Maria looks at the elite "What do you want me for?" the elite looks at her "We want information about your UNSC." Maria realizes this elite wants to fight the UNSC but she doesn't know why. She says to the elite "You won't get anything out of me." The elite steps towards he "Yes I will" he says with a sinister bite in his voice and activates an energy dagger. Hill looks at him "Killing me will only lose your precious information." The elite looks at her "I am not going to kill you." As he says this he jabs the dagger through her right arm. Maria screams at the pain. The elite withdraws his blade and walks out. As he leaves he says "I hope you won't be so stubborn next time."

A few hours later Cory's pelican

Cory grabs an assault rifle and his suppressed SMG knowing that this will be a time where weapons will be extremely important. He looks and sees Jun loading his sniper rifle and a suppressed SMG is on his hip. Kelly grabs a shotgun and suppressed magnum while Fred grabs a suppressed SMG and Spartan Laser. He sees Cap grab a suppressed Magnum while Bucky grabs a suppressed SMG and shotgun. He sees Wilson grab two suppressed SMGs "DZ coming up in 1 minute." The pilot says over the intercom. The team of seven prepares to go and rescue Maria the team drops into a dense jungle area. Jun takes point everyone has their suppressed weapons out. Jun stops at a ridge and motions the team forward. They see about 100 yards away is the hangar of a covenant base manned completely by elites still loyal to the covenant. Jun looks at Cory and says "You take the others, I'll be on over watch here." Cory looks at Jun and nods then signals the team to move up with him.

20 minutes later

Cory and the rest move towards the covenant base. Cory sees multiple elite minors along with three zealots. "Jun, do you see those zealots?" Cory asks over the comm. "Yeah, I have visual on them as well as a few rangers." Kelly walks over too Cory and whispers "I can draw them out. I'll take Falcon to cover me." Cory looks at her "If Fred says you're good then go." Kelly walks over and tells Fred. Cory sees Fred nod to her. He then sees her and Wilson leave through the Jungle.

10 minutes later.

"Distraction team ready." Cory hears Kelly over the comm. "Infiltration team ready." He responds "Over watch ready and waiting." Jun says. "On three distraction team goes and thirty seconds after that we move." "Copy that." Everyone responds. "1…2…3…distraction go." Cory yells over the comm. Kelly and Wilson move and fire on the covenant teams and take off running and shooting. Jun watches from his position and sees the rangers and one zealot leave chasing Wilson and Kelly. "One zealot and all rangers following distraction team." Jun tells Cory over comm. "It will have to do infiltration team moving out." The team moves for about five minutes and is preparing to breach the door. "Breaching on three. 1…2…3 Breach!" The charge goes off destroying the door and the team moves in Cory pulls out a scanner to check for human life signs and he sees the signal at the end of the hangar. "I've got her on the scanner let's move." As he says this a zealot jumps out and slashes at him with an energy sword and slices the assault rifle in half and knocks Cory to the floor. Cory draws his SMG and fires the entire magazine into the zealot and knocks the energy sword from its hand. Cory then grabs his knife and stabs the traitor. "Alright team we've still got active hostiles in the area stay close together." Cap responds "We've got trouble the rangers are back." Cory says back "You, Bucky and Fred hold the exit I will get Maria." Cory grabs his SMG and the energy sword, reloads and then moves toward the signal. He reaches the door and sets a breaching charge it explodes but as he is about to move in the other zealot knock him to the ground which knocks off his helmet, grabs him and knocks the SMG from his hand. The zealot looks the in the eyes soldier and says "She will watch you die for not revealing the information we wanted." Cory looks back at the elite as the alien activates his energy sword. "Not a chance in hell." Cory then activates the energy sword he has into the alien's chest. The elite freezes and then drops to the floor. Cory then runs into room and sees Maria unconscious with stab wounds in her right arm and both legs, her face I bruised and blood is dripping from her lip. Cory rushes up to her and pulls out his medkit, applies the biofoam and wakes her up. She opens her eyes and sees Cory and smiles "I knew you would come." She says weakly "Of course I did. Your legs look pretty bad I am calling Cap to help us out of here." Maria just nods. "Cap, this Cory we need you back here to help get Maria out. Jun, get closer and have the pelican pick us up in the hangar." "Copy moving out." Both soldiers say in unison.

15 minutes after these events on the pelican

Cory sits by Maria who is laying on stretcher. Jun stands next to his friend along with Cap, Falcon, and Bucky. Kelly and Fred keep an eyes on the rear of the dropship. Maria turns her head and looks at Cory and says "Thanks you, you guys saved my life. Cory you are a great warrior and man." Cory looks at Maria and kisses her "I'm just glad we got there before it got any worse" With that they fly towards the base they had been operating from.


	12. The ride home

1 and half hours after end of last chapter

Cory sits by Maria's stretcher holding her hand as she sleeps, in his other hand he holds the energy sword he took during the fight. He puts the sword on his hip. He looks around and sees Jun has dozed off along with the Avengers. Fred is sleeping as well. Cory then looks back at Maria Kelly looks at the young ODST then says to him "Why did you risk your life for her?" Cory looks back at the Spartan who has her helmet off. "I just couldn't leave her there. Those elites would have killed her in a few hours." Kelly then looks and tells Cory something she never thought she'd tell anyone. "I have someone I care about that much he's not on this planet right now I actually don't know where he is." Cory looks at the Spartan he knew Jun had dealt with the loss of Noble after Reach pretty badly but he had always thought the II's had less emotions. "Who is this person?" Cory asks her Kelly looks at him "John you might know him as the Master Chief. We were close with another Spartan who was killed in our first battle with Covenant." Cory looks at her realizing that this was the only person who had grown up with Humanity's greatest known hero. "You're worried about him. Aren't you?" Kelly looks at the ODST and nods "When Sam died I cried and he was there to help me through it." Cory looks at the super soldier and realizes under the armor Spartans, all of them, were just humans. "John will be fine, he has been through worse." Kelly looks at him and asks "How did you meet Maria?" Cory looks at her and tells her about New York. "I met Maria when my platoon was sent to what was left of New York to find survivors and we found her and the rest of the Avengers in cryo since 2020. We talked about our past and we went through a lot of same things in our service we just grew close. She was captured once on an op by some brutes and I helped her out that's how we ended up off of Tsavo Highway. Then we came to New Indianapolis and we have been there since. She was ready to lead her troops on this op but it went really badly, I hope she is ok after this one." Kelly looks at him "She'll be fine she's starting to wake up by the way." Cory looks down and sees Maria's eyes open she looks at him "Am I still alive?" she asks, Cory looks at her "Yeah of course you are. I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner. I…" He stops as she reaches up and brushes his cheek. "You did everything you could, I know that much." Cory looks at her and sees she is still scared of something. "What's wrong? I can see something had you scared." She looks at him and start to tear up "I almost saw you die today, I thought you did die. I couldn't see and all I heard was an energy sword turn on." Cory looks at her "Don't worry I'm not going anywhere" She looks at him and he leans down and kisses her and says "We'll be back to base, soon you'll need to go to medbay and I will stay there with you." She nods and starts to go back to sleep.


	13. Recovery begins

About 20 minutes post last chapter medical bay UNSC Base in New Indianapolis

Cory sat by Maria's side, still wearing the bottom portion of his armor. He looks at her sleeping form and notices she is in worse shape than he thought. Since she was now wearing just a tank top and shorts and he could see many of the bruises left by the elite traitors. Her right arm is in a sling since her bicep was cut by the elite's energy dagger. He was more than angry to find out that the leader of these elites got away. The door opens and he sees Steve Rogers standing in the door way. Steve walks over to Cory and says "how is she doing?" Cory looks at him "She's hurt pretty bad but should make a full recovery in a couple months. She will need help walking till then." Steve looks at the soldier and puts his hand on the Lieutenants shoulder. "She'll be fine Cory. You just need to be there for her" Cory looks back at Steve "I know, she's not going to like what happened to her team." Steve looks at Cory "She'll be in bad shape when she hears, you should be the one to tell her." Cory nods Steve turns to the door "I have to get back to training some of the new ODSTs in hand to hand combat. See you later." Cory waves and looks back down at Maria. She rolls over and suddenly sits up. She looks around scared. Cory moves towards her "Maria, you are ok we're in the Medbay right now." She looks and sees Cory and starts to calm down. She then looks at him and asks "What happened to my team?" Cory looks at the ground "When you were captured they killed the rest of the team, I'm so sorry Maria I know how close you were with your team" She looks at him and then down at the bed and starts crying he gets up and hugs her. "You are going to stay here for a few months and I will be nearby always." She looks at him "Thank you, I need to stand up." Cory looks at her "You won't be able to walk for a couple months Maria that's why I am staying here." She looks at him "Really?" Cory nods "I'm sorry the elites who interrogated you cut into your muscles. You will be staying in my barracks room I have two beds so you are going to have to use one." Maria looks at him and nods "We should get to the room then." Cory gets a wheelchair and helps Maria get into it they then leave the Medical bay.

10 minutes later Cory's barracks room

Cory helps Maria onto the bed and lays her down. She looks around and sees Cory has many pictures of his brother and their cousin who was killed on Reach. "You want something to eat?" He asks her looking through his personal food supply. She looks and sees him looking back at her she only nods. He looks and sees the pain in her eyes. "You miss them don't you?" Cory asks her. She looks at him and says weakly. "Yeah, they were all ready for our first mission together. It was horrible I was the last to be able to fight, that's why they didn't kill me." She starts to cry and Cory rushes over to her and holds her in his arms. "They will be remembered and they live on inside you." She says between sobs "I know I just…failed them." Cory lifts her head up and looks her in the eyes. "You did not, they were overwhelmed the only reason we saved you is we had Spartans and the Avengers. You did everything you could." She looks down. "Thank you Cory. You have already helped more than I deserve." He lays her back down. He moves over to the desk in the room and opens the comm channel. "This is Private Anderson, who is this?" Cory then says to him "Private Anderson, this Lieutenant Cory Andrews I need you to have someone send food to my barracks room, Lieutenant Hill needs something to eat." "On my way sir." Cory then shuts off the comm channel and sits next to Maria's bed "Thank you again." Maria says to him "No problem." Cory leans down and kisses her. She looks at him knowing he will take care of her. The food arrives so they eat and go to sleep.


End file.
